Wauwatosa, WI-based Metropolitan Urology Group has recently discovered a ransomware attack that affected two computer servers potentially resulted in the attackers gaining access to the protected health information of 17,634 patients.

The ransomware attack occurred on November 28, 2016, although it was initially unclear whether access to patients’ PHI had been gained by the attackers.

Metropolitan Urology Group contracted an international information technology company to perform a thorough analysis of the affected servers and its systems to determine the nature and extent of the attack.

On January 10, 2017, Metropolitan Urology Group was informed that patient data may have been accessed as a result of the infection. The firm was able to successfully remove the ransomware infection and restore the medical group’s systems.

Current patients are unaffected by the security breach. The data stored on the servers related to patients who had received medical services at the medical group’s facilities between 2003 and 2010.

The types of data that were potentially accessed include patients’ full names, procedural codes, dates of service, patient control numbers, patient account numbers and provider identification numbers. Only five of the 17,634 patients had their Social Security number stored on the servers.

When ransomware was detected, the servers were promptly isolated and external access was blocked. The medical group said it has now implemented ‘the best firewall and secure email system’, its information technology vendor – Digicorp – and its employees have all undergone further training on information security and a risk analysis is being performed to identify any further vulnerabilities in its IT systems to prevent future attacks. If any vulnerabilities are detected, rapid action will be taken to mitigate risk. Policies and procedures will also be updated to reflect technological changes that have been implemented in response to the attack.

All patients impacted by the incident have now been notified of the potential privacy breach by mail and have been offered 12 months of credit monitoring services without charge as a precaution against fraud and identity theft.

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HIPAA Journal provides the most comprehensive coverage of HIPAA news anywhere online, in addition to independent advice about HIPAA compliance and the best practices to adopt to avoid data breaches, HIPAA violations and regulatory fines. HIPAA Journal's goal is to assist HIPAA-covered entities achieve and maintain compliance with state and federal regulations governing the use, storage and disclosure of PHI and PII.